Daily Update On Current Affairs – October 09, 2017

President Ram Nath Kovind has launched Rs 100 cr, Mata Amritanandamayi Math Project “Jeevamritham” to provide the filtration system for cleaning drinking water to 5000 villages across India, in Kollam district in Kerala. The President also distributed the certificates to three villages out of 12 villages in the States of Bihar, UP, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Kerala, which were adopted by the Math, verified as Open Defecation Free by Swatch Bharat Abhiyan.

Prasar Bharathi launches online audition system

Prasar Bharati has launched an online application system for music auditions across all genres for the All India Radio. The initiative was launched on the occasion of 64th Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan in New Delhi. It is believed that with the introduction of this facility, the aspirants who want to apply and get themselves graded will have a better experience in terms of accessibility and availability.

Six Airports to be built in the country using land pooling method

The Union government is planning to build six airports under the public-private partnership (PPP) model in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar adopting a land-pooling model for land acquisition. The Centre proposes to develop a Greenfield airport each in Chennai, Kolkata, Bagdogra, Pune, Varanasi and Nalanda, Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey told The Hindu. Separately, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will spend ₹18,000 crore in the next four years for expanding its airports. “We plan to adopt a ‘land-pooling’ approach at places where land is a constraint,” said Mr. Choubey. “It will help remove a lot of obstacles such as fund requirement and resistance from landowners. This model has so far not been adopted in the airport segment,” he said.

RBI to launch financial literacy drive in nine states

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to launch a financial literacy drive in 80 blocks in nine states on the pilot basis to educate people on e-transactions, formal sector borrowings and insurance purchases. The pilot project, according to RBI will be commissioned in the 9 states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by the 6 NGOs in collaboration with the sponsor Banks. The aim of this drive is to inculcate the habit of making a household budget and recording financial transactions, encourage transactions in savings accounts, and active saving by depositing in banks through fixed deposits and recurring deposits.

India’s coffee output pegged at record 3.5 lakh tons in 2017-18

Coffee output in India, is pegged to be a record 3.50 lakh tonnes in the 2017-18 marketing year started this month on higher acreage. According to the Coffee Board, the final output stood lower by 10.34 percent at 3.12 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 marketing year from 3.48 lakh tonnes in the previous year. Releasing the first crop estimate, the Coffee Board said the crop’s forecast for 2017-18 is placed at 3.50 lakh tonnes, comprising 1.03 lakh tonnes of Arabica and 2.47 lakh tonnes of Robusta varieties. Higher output is mainly attributed to the additional bearing area of about 13,500 hectares in traditional growing areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

India’s Anupama wins World Open under 16 Snooker Championship

India’s Anupama Ramachandran has clinched the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championship title at St. Petersburg in Russia. In the girls’ category, second seed Anupama Ramachandran of India knocked out her compatriot and top seed Keerthana Pandian 3-1 to become World Open Under-16 champion. Earlier, she defeated Albina Leschuk of Belarus 3-0 in the semifinals and Alexsandra Riabinina of Russia in the quarterfinals with an identical 3-0 score line.